BRISTOL, PA -- AMI Entertainment's music division said that the migration of jukeboxes, formerly powered by Ecast, to the AMI network is up and running. The movement occurs automatically, and will give former Ecast operators access to AMI's network and client software, and link their boxes to more than 900,000 songs.

Ecast closed its doors without warning on March 1, leaving hundreds of operators and thousands of bar owners without practical options to continue with coin-operated music. | SEE STORY

A week later, AMI announced a migration plan to keep jukeboxes running. Within one week, network operations were in place and Ecast customers could sign up with AMI for legally licensed music. There were an estimated 6,500 jukeboxes connected to the Ecast network. Sources tell Vending Times that some 80% of those will likely move to AMI.

As part of a pilot program, AMI has already transitioned a number of Ecast jukeboxes to its network. The general rollout of the migration is now underway, and operators can expect their remaining Ecast units to be transitioned over the course of the coming months, the company reported.

Operators will be notified of the migration date for their machines; individual notifications for each completed machine migration will also be dispatched. The software download and transition will initiate at the machine's set install time (3:30 a.m. default) and take several hours.

The current software migration supports NSM (Mojo), Rock-Ola (Mojo), Wurlitzer and Rowe jukebox clients. Software support for additional models will be available in the coming weeks, AMI said. Operators of NSM and View legacy boxes can expect to receive separate, hardware-based upgrade kits in the next two to four weeks that will allow them to convert their machines to the AMI network.

Questions can be directed to AMI technical support at 877-ROC-N-ROL (877-762-6765).